Key Highlights
- Sanctions, diplomatic isolation and internal unrest have failed to unseat him.
- But the latest escalation by the Trump administration — including the seizure of a Venezuelan crude tanker and the enforcement of a blockade on sanctioned vessels — has hit the regime where it is most vulnerable: its oil trade.
- Melissa Ford Maldonado, director of the Western Hemisphere Initiative at the America First Policy Institute, told Fox News Digital that while the timeline and outcome remain uncertain, the regime’s dependence on oil leaves it uniquely vulnerable.
- "One thing is clear: the Maduro regime can’t sustain itself without oil revenue," she said. While the U. S.
- move has raised concerns among European allies, who warned that the escalation could undermine regional stability and complicate efforts toward a political resolution in Venezuela, Ford Maldonado says the administration’s approach is striking at the core of Maduro’s power.
